I AM beginning to wonder if Oxford City Council ever listens to the people at all.

Area committees were set up so that councillors could make decisions for their area and so that local people could also have their say and influence those councillors at the meetings.

Yet, time and time again, the decisions made at area meetings are either ignored or dismissed by the council’s executive committee.

This means all the decisions painstakingly thrashed-out at area committees end up being a farce and a waste of people’s time.

A prime example of this was the Manzil Way building project for student housing.

The east area parliament decided that it would be catastrophic to allow building contractors to take up a well-used part of the park in order to store their materials and vehicles for the duration of the building work – which not only means that part of the park will not be able to be used by the public for two years, but may also damage it for a long time to come.

The people and councillors provided very feasible suggestions for an alternative site, to save the park. But what did the council do?

It quashed the votes and opinions of the area parliament and gave the contractors permission to store their materials in the park anyway.

What was the point of having the area parliament?

Even David Cameron says he wants local people to take responsibility for their local areas. Yet some city councillors seem to have no respect for local voices – they just ignore them and do their own thing.

PAMELA WEBBER

Bullingdon Road

Oxford